Script of the White Devil
by Dark Domination
Summary: Slight AU: Allen is raised by the Earl and the Noah after Mana dies instead of joining General Cross and becoming an Exorcist. Will somewhat follow the original plot line. Dark Allen. Rated M for future chapters and slight paranoia. I also don't do well with summaries.
1. Chosen Path

Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-Man.

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It was the morning of Christmas Eve and while most people would be preparing their houses for friends and family get-togethers and getting ready to feast and drink eggnog by the fireplace, there two people weren't. They had just left a town that neighbored London which they had performed in to gain some cash and now were on their way to yet another town to do the same. They were traveling entertainers though and an odd pair at that. They were a boy with reddish brown hair with a limp left arm that hung to his side, his hand concealed with a cooking mitt to hid its deformity, it's red veiny skin and wore a slightly tatter heavy green jacket that went down to his knees covering most his worn black worn down slacks that were neatly tucked into his small brown boots that had clearly seen better days. As for the other? The other was a normal yet tall slender man who was dressed in a weathered down suit with a matching and equally worn top hat; his pants were similar to that of a clown's, as it had alternating green and black stripes running up and down the pant leg with pauper boots.

"Come on, Allen. We can't stop, we have to keep walking or else we won't make it to the next town in time for lunch."

"But Mana it's so cold!" Whined the boy, as he plopped down into the muddy snow causing Mana to stop. The man knelt down next to the pouting boy with a soft smile and rustled Allen's hair, much to the boy's annoyance.

Mana's smile fell slightly as he started to see his little brother's smiling face instead of Allen's.

'Don't stop, keep walking'

Allen looked up at Mana with concern as he noticed his eyes glaze over slightly. "Mana?" He asked hesitantly, "Are you alright, Mana?"

He blinked several times before standing up and turning away with a cheerful smile, "Of course I am!" he stated with vigor. "Now come along. The sooner we get to the town, the sooner we can rent a room and the sooner we can eat and you can pick where we eat. What do you say? Allen nodded with enthusiasm. "Alright! Into town we go!" Mana said with clownish enthusiasm as he pointed his arm and finger down the road toward their destination. Mana walked over towards Allen before kneeling down beside him once more only this time he motioned for the boy to get on his back earning him a confused look from the boy.

"Well don't just sit there gawking at me, get on." Mana said with assurance.

"But you always say to get up and keep walking." Allen said still looking at the man with his face scrunched up in confusion.

Mana chuckled, "Yes, but it doesn't hurt to lean on those close to you when you need it. Now come on, we have to hurry so we can make time to have fun time." He replied in a jovial tone.

Allen hesitated slightly before getting on Mana's back where he remained for the rest of the trip. Two hours in and Allen was beginning to doze off and it wasn't helping that Mana was humming that lullaby that they had made together in their secret language that only they knew. Allen yet out a silent yawn as his eyes began to grow heavy and fell asleep against his father's back, his head resting upon his shoulder. A few hours passed and they had made it to the next town by midafternoon, much later than what they had planned though Mana was fine with that. They had checked into the cheapest hotel they could find and Mana placed the sleeping boy onto the bed before tucking him before making his way to the small guest lobby just down the hall. The lobby was fairly small but was still good sized for being the prices they were asking per room. To the left wall he could see three slightly worn leather chairs, all of which were currently empty; they were facing the fireplace which had a small yet cozy fire going filling the entire room with its warmth. On the side of the room sat a few empty tables and bookcases filled with old and slightly worn books that had clearly seen their fair share of readers. In the back corner however sat a black piano with yellow stained ivory key's caused from old age the lid lay open exposing the many well maintained cords. Mana had half a mind to start playing it but stopped himself, he hadn't touched a piano since Nea had been killed and the last thing he wanted was to relive those horrid memories, so he turned went to the nearest bookcase and randomly grabbed book and went to go sit in one of the chairs and begin to read.

As he read his book he heard footsteps entering the room and he had assumed it to be Allen seeing as how the innkeeper said they were the only ones who had checked in so far and it had only been a few hours and to top it off it was Christmas Eve so he continued to read his book waiting for Allen to either come worming his way into his lap to try and read with him or snuggle next to him. Mana's eyes widened as he heard the piano begin playing the song he and Nea had made together and promptly stood up and turned to see just who was playing the piano, praying that he would see Allen sitting in front of those aged ivory keys. To his shock and slight horror it wasn't Allen, instead a man with dark red hair that flowed down to the middle of his back, he wore a black suit with gold trim with a matching hat, and on top of his hat sat a fairly large golem that Mana instantly recognized as Timcanpy.

"Cross." Mana whispered harshly but loud enough for the man to hear him.

"It's been a long time, Mana Walker." Cross said as he pulled his gloved hands away from the ivory keys and pulled the cigarette from his mouth.

"What are you doing here? I though t I told you to never come near me again! It's your fault Nea is dead!" Mana said with an accusing tone as he pointed his finger at the general.

"You and I know both know that it was his decision to betray the Earl." Cross replied lazily as he turned to look at Nea's brother. The right side of his face adorned half of an opera mask that concealed his eye.

"But you were the one who planted the idea in his head! If he never met you he would still be alive!" Mana's anger was growing steadily towards the man he felt was responsible for the death of his brother even though it had been the Earl who had performed the deed.

"I didn't come here to point fingers about Nea's death. I'm here about the boy. His left arm has innocence and I'm here to pick him up to train him how to use it." Cross took another puff from his cigarette and exhaled the cancerous smoke into the air before returning his gaze to Mana who was suddenly silent.

"No."

"What was that?" Cross said as he tilted his head to the side slightly in irritation.

"I said no. You took Nea away from me and I only just got him back. I won't let you take him away again."

"What do you by 'not letting me take him away again'?" The general waited for a response but it never came, "Never mind, I'll be waiting for you to bring me the boy to the cathedral across town next thing tomorrow morning." Cross said as he stood up and walked past the fuming man and headed for the doorway and proceeded to the exit. As he opened the door he turned back to take a look inside and smirked as he saw Allen cradling his left arm as he headed towards the lobby where Mana was. The boy stopped at the doorway into the lobby and turned and looked curiously at him to which Cross scowled causing the boy to quickly turn away. When he saw the boy disappear into the lobby he headed out the door and let it close behind him with a smirk. He knew the boy was to be the next host for Nea but he didn't know that Mana knew which had come as a surprise. He would have to figure something out. He had sworn to protect Mana, but if Mana refused to hand the boy over he might have to break that promise to keep the other promise.

"Mana?" Allen cooed as he clutched his left arm. "My arm, it's hurting again." He said with tears in his eyes but fighting to keep them at bay.

Mana, who was still looking at the place where Cross had been sitting, turned to face Allen and knelt down and hugged the boy close to him.

"For as long as I can I will be by your side." He said as he stroked a hand through Allen's hair affectionately, though the only one he saw at that moment was Nea. Though as Mana said that he knew that Cross would find a way to get this boy he was holding in his arms, after all, this was General Cross, a mad man willing to go to extremes to get what he wanted.

"Mana?" Allen asked slightly confused before wincing in pain as his left arm began to throb once again. While Allen had no idea as to why it his arm had been hurting, Mana had an idea.

"Now let me see your arm." Mana said as he took off the green cooking mitt used to conceal the Innocence filled arm. He noticed that green cross like figure was glowing slightly. 'Damn it, Cross.' Mana cursed internally. In the last town Allen's arm had also been an issue for a short time though only after they had performed in the town square and at first he had no idea what to make of it, but now, now he knew it must have something to do with Cross' appearance.

"Mana, did you play the piano?" Allen asked as they got ready for their performance.

Mana who was putting on his clown makeup stopped and shook his head. "No it was a... a friend of mine, you had just missed him by a small bit thankfully since he hates kids."

"Was it that man dressed in that weird coat?"

Allen grumbled, "What's the point of having a secret code if you're going to blab to all your friends about it?" the boy replied angrily. It upset him that that Mana had apparently told one of his friends about their secret code...a Friend that hated kids no less.

Later that night, after they had done some entertaining in the main square of town, Mana had decided to leave the town with Allen, mainly to avoid Cross the next morning and avoid another confrontation and possibly lose the boy he had raised for three years now.

"Allen, it's time to get up." Mana said as he shook the boy lightly to rouse him from his slumber.

Allen groaned as he sat up in his bed rubbing his eyes tiredly before looking around and noticing that it was still dark out and the stars were shining brightly, he could also hear some explosions and the occasion flash of light and figured the town was celebrating Christmas Eve with firework but hadn't seen them. Despite the distractions he did as he was told and proceeded to get dressed. He paused and glimpsed at the back of his left hand and noticed the green infected looking cross was glowing lightly and winced the light pulsed slightly. Quickly Allen pulled the green cooking mitt over his hand and made his way toward the main hall where Mana stood waiting and forced a smile as he saw the boy. Though Allen couldn't tell he smiled back happily before grabbing his hand and they made their way through the alley ways of the town to leave. Allen would occasionally look to the sky to see if he could spot any fireworks but due to them walking in the alleyways he could only see the occasional flash and boom.

Allen let go of Mana's hand as his arm grew tired when a steak of gold and purple flashed in a nearby alleyway caught his eye. Curiosity got the better of him and he went to go see what it was and his eyes lit up as saw a few old weathered coins in the gutter and proceed to put them in his jacket pocket he heard the galloping of horses and as he looked up and paled as he saw a horse drawn carriage headed right for him. The horses had been spooked by whatever had flown by earlier and after a loud 'bang' they broke away from the carriage and ran off causing the carriage to roll. But before the carriage got to him he felt himself being pushed out of the way and the sound of a loud crash behind him and looked behind him to see Mana's lower body crushed under the fallen carriage. The man was able to crawl out from under the carriage but his spine had been broken and everything from the middle of his back had been crushed from the weight of the carriage. Allen rushed over to dying man and began to cry.

"No! Mana!" He yelled as he sobbed.

"Allen..." Mana forced himself to speak despite the pain he was in. "Don't ever stop. Always keep walking. Always."

"Mana? What are you saying?! You can't leave me; I still need you, Mana. Mana?"

"Promise me... promise me that you will always keep walking." Mana choked out as he grabbed Allen's left hand, clutching it tightly. "Promise me."

"Mana, no don't go! Mana!" Allen was crying hysterically as he grabbed Mana's now limp hand. Mana had died. "I...I'm sorry! It's my fault! If I hadn't tried taking those coins..." Allen was never able to finish his sentence as his tears and shock forced him into silence.

The next few hours blurred by for Allen. He had been questioned by a few police officers, none of which he was able to answer due to the shock of losing the one person who had cared for him, the one person he had opened up to. They had inspected the area and had found nothing indicating foul play and while they had been curious as to how the shafts of the carriage had splintered down the middle, though they had pushed it off as a combination of stress, old age, lack of a driver the abruptness of the turn and the tight spacing that had caused them to break. When they had finished investigating they had tasked the church with setting up the burial for the man. While the church prepared everything they had managed to get the boy to tell them where he wanted the man buried and were making preparations to put him in the local orphanage. When all was said and done the boy had managed to slip away to the spot that Mana had been buried. He sat by the old dead willow tree as he held his knee's to his chest rocking himself back and forth mumbling the words to the song Mana would sing to him when he was sad in an attempt to comfort himself and all the while tears streamed down his face. What Allen didn't know was that he was being watched by not one but two entities.

The Millennium Earl, who preyed on those who in dwelling in their darkest sorrow and at their weakest to create Akuma leaned against the tree while in his void of dark matter as he heard the boy mumble something in audible and paid it no mind at first, but as he made himself visible to the world, his portly body and constant grin were his most notable features, along with his white tail coat and striped pants and top cat with a pink flower and small spectacles masking his golden eyes which contrasted with his ash grey skin. As he leaned on the tombstone he could hear the boy's mumbles a bit more clearly and stumbled slightly as tough he had heard them before

"Why hello there, little boy." He said sweetly grabbing the boy's attention.

Allen jumped at the Earl's words and stood up looking at the weird looking man leaning on his father's tombstone. "Who... who are you?" the boy asked shakily as he wiped the tears from his eye's.

"How would you like it if you could see your loved one once more?" He asked completely ignoring the boy's question.

"You can bring back my dad?" Allen asked with widen eyes.

"Oh, but of course! But I can't do it alone; I'll need a bit of your help to do it."

"What... what do I need to do?" Allen asked hopefully he was hesitant but only slightly. He wanted Mana back and was willing to do anything.

The Earl's massive grin grew slightly as he summoned up the body piece for needed to make his Akuma. "It's rather simple really. All you have to do is yell out their name into the sky and I can bring back your dear daddy back to life."

Allen's eyes widened and he smiled as he wasted no time in calling out Mana's name which was engraved onto the constructs forehead and as a strike of lightning stuck it.

The Earl froze as he heard this boy yell the name 'Mana'.

"All... Allen?" the construct chocked out.

"Mana!" the boy cried happily as he started to run towards the construct and was about to hug it only to wince in fear as he heard Mana scream at him.

"How dare you turn me into an Akuma, Allen Walker!?" He lunged forward without the Earl's order, knocking Allen to the ground, cutting open the left side of his face in the process.

The boy cried as he struggled to try and get out from under the Akuma construct all the while wondering why Mana was trying to hurt him. Didn't Mana recognize him? Of course he did, he was screaming out his name!

"Allen Walker, I curse..." Mana was never able to finish as the boy's left arm transformed into a massive white claw knocking him off the boy before he could finish the curse. Though Allen was unable to control what happened next as his arm started attacking the Akuma skeleton on its own accord. It dragged Allen across the ground as the boy pleaded for his arm to stop and to not hurt Mana but his arm ignored him. The massive white claw launched itself at the Akuma construct before crushing it as the claw landed on it with full force, shattering the possessed skeleton.

Realization hit the Earl as he heard the boy's last name. "Nea..." he whispered to himself with mixed emotion. If it hadn't been for the boy humming the 14th's tune he would have thought of the boy having the same last name as Nea as a mere coincidence. He watched with morbid fascination as they boy destroyed his Akuma construct and started walking over to the now crying boy who was sitting in front of the spot where he had just killed Mana, his arm now returned to its normal red veiny self. He was unsure as to why but he felt the need to comfort this boy now that he knew he was the nephew of one of his favorite Noah.

"I'm sorry boy." The Earl said as sympathetically as he could despite his grin.

"Why? Why did my arm kill Mana?" Allen sobbed. "Why did he try to kill me?"

The Earl put his hand on Allen's should and squeezed lightly. "I'm sorry my dear little Allen. Had I known you were Nea's nephew I wouldn't have approached you the way I did."

"Who?" Allen asked wiping the tears from his eyes; his curiosity had been peeked despite his current sorrow.

"So, Mana never told you about us? I guess that's understandable, though I would have thought he would at least have told you about Nea. Very well, come with me if you want to meet and get to know more about the rest of your 'family'." Earl said looking down at the boy. "That is if you want to. Mana was with us for a long time after all."

Allen's eye's widened. Mana had a family? But if he did, why didn't he ever tell him about them? Was he trying to hide Allen away from them? Or was he ashamed of adopting him and didn't want his family to see the boy's arm? No, that couldn't be it. This man had seen his arm and even offered to tell him more about Mana and his family and even meet them. But what if he wanted revenge for being with Mana and causing him to die? Could Mana's family be the reason why he attacked him? Did Mana not want him to meet them? Allen struggled with his decision until he heard a gruff voice call out.

"Don't listen to him kid! He's just planning on using you then toss you aside when you're not of use anymore."

Both Allen and the Earl looked up and saw a man with flowing red hair and a black overcoat with golden trim and a matching crushed top hat.

"General Cross Marian." The Earl snarled. "I should have known you would be behind this. You never did like Mana."

Allen looked up at the Earl curiously. "What do you mean?"

The Earl got an evil glint in his eye that sent a shiver down the boy's spine. "He's the one that got you uncle Nea to betray and hurt his family, even Mana."

"That's a lie and you know it Earl! Now hand over the boy or else!" Cross yelled putting his hand on the butt of his Innocence.

Allen's eyes widened before glaring at the red haired man he now knew as General Cross and made up his mind mainly out of spite that this man had in some way hurt Mana and ignored what the man had to say The boy shakily stood up, still in shock from being the cause of Mana's death, twice, and hugged the Earl's leg who in turn patted the boy's back as his grin once again grew slightly as Cross pulled out his gun Judgment but he hesitated to fire as both the Earl and the boy faded into darkness.

"Damn it!" Cross let out a frustrated growl as he shoved Judgment back into his holster and stormed off into the night. Things did not go as they were supposed to. He would get a hold of that boy one way or another but that would come later.

The Earl, with Allen in hand, reappeared in the Ark where Allen promptly fainted then and their due to the stress and shock running its course. The Earl's constant smile sagged slightly at this as he picked the unconscious boy up and took him to his bedroom as it would be the safest place until he could let Road, Lulu bell and the Akuma know his plans regarding the boy.

The portly Noah glared at the boy's left arm with slight hatred yet at the same time with a bit of sadness as he tucked Allen into his personal bed. This boy had been cursed with a parasite type Innocence that not only deformed his entire left arm but would slowly kill him in the process. He would have to amend that flaw no doubt but all in due time as he was still unsure of what to do with this human boy. He knew this boy wasn't related to Nea by blood but he couldn't shake his gut feeling that there was more to this boy than meets the eye

The Earl sighed as he closed the door to his bedroom behind him only to get glomped by his favorite Noah. "Millenie, you're back!" Road cried with joy as she got off of the Earl. "So who's the new person? Did another Noah wake up?" Road asked as she leaned forward with her hands behind her back.

"Afraid not, my little Road." The Earl's grin dropped at the thought.

"Then who did you put in your bedroom?" Road's already curious mind was set into overdrive at the thought of the Earl bringing anyone besides a Noah to the Ark with him.

"I'll tell you along with other at dinner tonight, though our guest won't be able to join us." The portly Earl looked to his Jack-o-lantern topped pink umbrella Lero whom was struggling to break free from Road's grasp. "Road, would you mind taking Lero and gathering everyone for dinner?"

Road pouted slightly but did as she was asked. It was killing her not knowing who the Earl had brought to the Ark. The Earl watched as she skipped down the hall with Lero in hand until his attention was drown to his feet where he had heard a black cat hiss angrily.

"Now, now Lulu bell, there's no need to get upset. I'll explain everything at dinner." He said earning a yowl from the cat before it trotted off in the same direction as Road where he followed shortly but not before he opened the door to take one last glance at the sleeping boy whose hair appeared to have dulled slightly. He walked in taking notice of the boy's bloodied left eye which by now had stopped bleeding and was in the early stages of scabbing over. Though there was still dried blood crusting on his face he figured that he would get the boy cleaned up after dinner since the Akuma maids might kill the boy or his left arm could activate itself and kill them. He let out a sigh as he pulled the covers over the boy and locked the door on his way out so as to avoid any mishaps while he informed his 'family' of the news.

~~~~~Line Break~~~

Meanwhile at the dinner table sat five figurers all of which had ashen gray skin and gold yellow eyes with stigmata's running across their foreheads, one of which was Road Kamelot with her bluish hair spiking out in all directions wearing her signature gothic lolita punk style clothing as she scribbled around in a blank notebook in a vain attempt to keep herself busy while the others

"I wonder what the Earl has in store for us. I mean it is rather sudden for him to call us all to dinner so soon. I do wonder what's keeping him; I mean I had to cancel a very important meeting just to be here."

"Your plans didn't involve getting drunk off of expensive wine while surrounded by women did it? If so, that's hardly more important that anything Lord Millennium has to say."

"While I wouldn't mind having bottle of Romanée-Conti with a couple dozen women swooning over me, I'm sad to say that my meeting was with an ambassador from a neighboring province. I mean really Tyki I thought you knew me better than that. I mean you, more than anyone should know that I work diligently to help keep the flow of Akuma going, it's not that easy maintaining a war after war after war after all."

"And you spend any and all of your free time with getting drunk and using you 'charm' to get woman.'"

"It's not like in the only good looking one in the family. You're absolutely beautiful much like myself. You also get your fair share of women at the many Noble Balls I hold when the Earl makes you go; you're practically the star attraction at them. I just don't see why you won't take my advice and settle down with one of the many lovely young noble woman and have a family. It's such a satisfying feeling to be a family man after all."

"No matter how many times you say it the answer is still the same. I don't see what's so great about it anyway; I mean you're practically with a different woman every night anyway, so it can't be that great."

"Oh, Tyki! I'm hurt. I can't help it that there are so many cute women in the world practically begging to be noticed. Besides I think it's time you let loose. When was the last time you did the deed?"

Tyki choked on his wine a bit and wiping the spilled contents from his lips with cloth napkin before speaking.

"Sheryl, my love life is the least of your worries and hardly a suitable subject for the table." Tyki replied to his brother with a matter of fact tone while blushing madly eager to change the subject. "What of Road's studies? Have they been going well?"

Road to let out a lengthy annoyed sigh. If she had to put up with any more of this she was going lose her mind. As if on cue, the Earl appeared at the head of the table with his signature grin. "Good evening my dear Noah. I've called you all here today on account of a new member being added to our little 'family' though I'm afraid he's not a Noah, but before I continue lets have dinner shall we?" he stated immediately silencing the now curious Noah as several Akuma maids made their way to the large round table, each carrying several trays filled with plates of food that were each placed upon the table in an orderly fashion before taking their place at the edge of the room until further orders which came rather soon from an angered Noah.

"What is this?! This isn't sweet at all! I thought I told you to only serve me sweet tasting foods!" the Noah bellowed as his anger started to bubble over. Before he could lash out and tear the Akuma maids limb from limb, he was met with the scent of several cakes, pies and other forms of desert in front of him, courtesy of the Earl.

Other than Skin's little outburst, diner had continued on quietly with only the sounds of metal silverware clanking against porcelain plates filling the air. After the 5 Noah had finished eating their dinner they looked to the Earl expectantly.

The Earl took his napkin and wiped his face with elegance before clearing his throat, "Now as I said before, we have a new addition to the family, one who isn't a Noah. Now before I go into detail about whom or what he is, I want to make it very clear that he is **_NOT_** to be harmed." The Earl darkened his words before returning to his cheerful tone, "The boy is no older than 9 or 10 and has been cursed with a parasite type innocence which we will take care of once he is willing to do so and no sooner and I'd rather have him come to us than us to him."

"Earl I don't mean to interrupt, but why would you bring a sub-human into the Ark let alone an Innocence user?!" Sheril exclaimed, "And telling us not to harm him for it is like telling and Akuma not to kill!"

"Calm down Sheryl. I understand your point but there's more." The Earl pointed a glare the Noah nobleman causing him to shrink back into his seat slightly. "As I was saying, the boy's name is Allen Walker. He is the adoptive son of Mana Walker and as some of you may recall Mana was the older brother of Nea Walker." This sudden revelation caused a collective gasp amongst the Noah.

"Lord Millennium! I know you were fond of the 14th but are you sure this is a good idea? The 14th not only tried to kill you but succeed in killing the entire Noah family with the exception of my precious Road!" Sheril was slightly enraged at the Earl would bring the family of the traitorous Noah to the Ark and an Innocence user to boot.

Road felt a small chill run down her spine as the memories of the 14th's betrayal flashed before her. But before any of them could continue their little discussion, the Noah present jumped slightly in surprise when they heard a blood curdling scream coming from the same direction as the Earl's bedroom. The Earl was the first one to leave the table as he rushed as fast as his portly body would take him, which was much faster than the other Noah were going, until he reached his room and noticed it was still locked but proceeded to unlock it and quickly examined the bed which was now empty and quickly glanced around the room until his gaze found the boy curled up in one of the corners rocking back and forth mumbling to himself. The left side of his face was missing the cloth and was reopened and bleeding again but now had a upside down pentacle above his eye with three red lines coming off the three points of the star that trailed down past the boy's eye and immediately joined and swerved left at his cheekbone before spreading out and curved down the boy's cheek and joined together again as they followed the boy's jawline down to his chin. His left arm was also sporting some rather fresh wounds, most of which appeared to be self-inflicted through biting. His hair had changed drastically by now and had gone from dark reddish brown to snow white.

As the portly Noah neared the boy he screamed again clutching the left side of his face as the lines started to glow red. He remained completely oblivious to the Earl trying to calm him down and continued to thrash about in the Earls grasp.

Tyki took a breath as he finally made it to the Earl's room with Road on his back and Sheryl hot on his heels. Lulu Bell was already waiting for them at the door in her cat form and Skin had decided not to bother and had headed back to his own room. Those present watched as the Earl tried to hush and comfort someone in the corner that they couldn't see do to the Earls current size.

"I don't know how the Earl can move so fast in that form. You'd think he'd be much slower with all that extra weight." Tyki complained as Road got off his back and entered the room to try and get a closer look at the boy only to get shooed away by the Earl much to her disappointment and went back to standing at the crowded doorway.

The Earl let out a sigh as the boy passed out from the pain he had been suffering and scooped him up and placed him back onto the bed. "Lulu Bell and Road, I want you two to clean up his wounds and try to keep him company until he wakes up." The Earl said watched the boy flinch every couple seconds. "And Road, I want you to see if you can't find anything that might be useful for us in his memories. I have something to take care of." With that the Earl promptly left to god knows where leaving the Noah on their own.

Tyki was the first to move and made his way over to the boy. He scrunched his nose as he saw the blood oozing into the sheets underneath. "Oi, Lulu! You might want to get these wounds cleaned up like the Earl asked cause they don't seem like they'll stop bleeding anytime soon."

Lulu Bell yowled before morphing into her human and walking over to the boy with an expressionless face as she gazed down at the boy and examined his wounds. As she examined Allen, Road was already gathering a variety of bandages and antiseptics and dropping them all next to the bed as she did so until motioned for her to stop.

"Get me a bucket of water and a cloth." Lulu Bell said in her usual emotionless tone glancing at Road as she spoke.

Road, with the help of Tyki, had brought in a small pale of water and some clothes and watched as Lulu began to clean the boy's face and wounds almost gracefully. Before long the boy was bandaged up with gauze covering most of the left side of his face while his left arm was wrapped in bandages.

Sheril, who had been watching the boy with disgust, decided he had gotten a good enough look at the boy and decided to leave. He didn't like the idea of having the boy around but it was by the Earl's orders not to harm the boy so he would do just that, for now.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Notice: I will be changing my Pen name to Dark Domination shortly after this and chapter 21 of ****_Gohan: The Fallen Hero_**** is posted.**

* * *

The morning sun shone upon the snow covered ground like a sea of crystal white. It was early and yet most people were still fast asleep from a long day of festivities from the day before which had many a merry events taking place since the day before had been Christmas day. Despite this, a lone tall yet slender man with a nobles attire dressing him head to toe stood upon a hilltop that housed a grave which lay beside a withered old dead tree which was covered in a thins blanket of snow. He leaned slightly on his cane with both hands holding it in place at a slight tilt, his head downcast with his top hat shadowing his eyes as he looked at the grave of Mana Walker. The man was the Millennium Earl in his human form so as to not draw unwanted attention to himself. Though he wasn't there to mourn, he was there out of curiosity and confusion and to think.

Why had he spared the boy named Allen Walker? Why did he take him back to the Ark? Why did he feel the need to be close to the boy? These were a few of the questions that had been running through his mind, though he shrugged most of these thoughts off as merely due to the fact that he was Nea's nephew and that he still cared for Nea as a brother. Even though he still felt hurt about Nea's betrayal, he had found out why Nea had done so. It had been Cross's fault! The Exorcist General had somehow manipulated the 14th and formed a friendship with Nea and the Earl hated him for that. Since then Cross had become a major thorn in his side due to the information Nea had leaked to Cross. Though, this led him to wonder further, why was General Cross lying in wait for the boy? It was as if he knew what was going to happen before it happened and the General never did anything without a good reason. It had to be more than just pure coincidence that the pesky Exorcist had shown up when he did. He might have been planning on approaching the boy after his Innocence had activated, maybe he was the one responsible for it activating, but if he was how did he know the boy had Innocence to begin with? Had he met with Mana prior to his death? Could Cross have staged Mana's death just to get the boy? And if he did, why? But the Earl doubted that the General would go to such lengths for a mere child even if they did have Innocence. The Earl's mind was reeling at the many questions and possible scenarios that were floating about in his mind and shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. These questions didn't matter at the moment. What did matter was that General Cross was out and about which meant he was on a mission of some kind. He'd have to keep an eye on him especially since he had that pesky ability to turn his Akuma against him and even hide his presence completely.

He let out a frustrated sigh as he bent down onto one knee and wiped some of the fresh snow and ice off the cross shaped tombstone. "You're to blame too, you know." The Earl said as he eyed the headstone angrily. "Everything he did was for you and yet you did nothing to stop him. Maybe you wanted him to rebel. Maybe it was you and not Cross who cause our dear 14th to betray us. But that doesn't matter right now, not at the moment. I will take care of this boy that you took an interest in for whatever reason, though I'm not doing it for you. I'll do it for Nea, even if Nea hates me; I still care for him since he was also my brother as a fellow Noah. And I know I said I would never forgive you and that I would always hate you but I think it's time to move on and let bygones be bygones. You're dead now so it will be kind of hard holding a grudge anyway. Well then I'll be off now."With the Earls little speech out of the way he stood back up and straightened his jacket and the rest of his clothes and tipped his hat towards the grave before slowly morphing back into his pudgy self.

"Now that I've gotten that over with, I think it's time to check on dear little Allen and see if Road has found anything out about him." He said to no in particular as he opened a heart shaped door to take him back to the Ark.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the Earls bedroom sat Lulu Bell as she watched over the now sleeping boy. Road had scanned the boys memories by using her dream to look through his memories, something she normally did to psychologically attack her foes, but hadn't found anything important besides the fact that Mana had taught Allen the musical score of the 14th and that Cross might have somehow learnt it as well, which was a problem. If Cross did indeed know the melody to control the Ark then what else could he know if anything at all? Road was pacing in the as she impatiently waited for the Earl's arrival.

Though the Earl seemed to have a knack for showing up just when he was needed. He peeked around the corner of his bedroom door with only his nose up being exposed at a slant and stood like that for a few seconds before straighten is posture and entering the room.

"How is dear little Allen?" he asked inquisitively as came to stand next to Lulu Bell, who was sitting straight on a wooden stool next to the bed with her hands interlocked and in her lap, and leaned over to examine to boy's flushed face.

"He should be fine. There were no major injuries, though it would seem his left eye suffers from a curse but I'm unsure of its nature." She answered, keeping her eyes on the boy.

"What did you find out about the boy?" The Earl asked not taking his eyes off the sleeping child.

"Mana taught him the 14th's musical score and there's a chance Cross knows it as well." Road replied.

"I see." The Earl turned to face Road, "Did our dear Sheryl already depart?" He asked glancing around the room as if her were searching for the Noah.

"Sheryl left shortly after you did, Lord Millennium." Lulu Bell answered.

"Road..." Before the Earl could finish, Allen sat up in the bed clutching the edge of his blanket, his body was covered in a cold sweat and the patch over his eye was flung off as he quickly looked around trying to figure out where he was before his eyes landed on the Earl and his left eye turned black with a red ring forming around his iris which had also turned red with an upside down red pentacle in the center of his pupil.

The boy stuttered for a bit before he took a deep breath and swallowed hard before taking yet another breath of air.

"You...you're...you're the Earl, right?" The boy's voice quavered slightly as he stared at the Earl's chest as if he were looking at something.

"Ah, you're finally awake little Allen." The Earl cooed softly. "I was getting a bit worried. And to answer your question, yes, I am the Millennium Earl." He said as he took his top hat off and placing it in front of his heart before taking a bow.

They boy couldn't help but giggle at this man's antics helping loose the tension he was feeling. "You're not mad at me are you?" he asked as he looked away from the Earl dejectedly.

Putting his hat back atop his head the Earl placed his hand over his massive grin, "What could I ever be mad at you for?"

"Well I...I got Mana killed." The boy choked out as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled the coins he had picked up in the alleyway and held his hand out. "If I hadn't gone after _this,_ Mana would still be alive."

Silence filled the air as Allen stared at his hand that held the small before clutching it tightly as tears began to build up behind his eyes, though he forced himself not to cry as his small body trembled. He felt a firm grip in his right shoulder which gave a reassuring squeeze causing the boy to look at the hand before looking up to its owner.

"Now there. There's nothing you could have done." The Earl said calmly. "We mustn't dwell in the past little Allen. You're with family now after all. Speaking of, we need to get you settled in don't we?"

The boy was speechless for a bit before nodding slightly causing the Earls massive smile to broaden.

"Very well then, we will have you live with Sheryl for the time being. But first I think it's best if we gather every one for breakfast, though they will probably be late." The Earl said as he turned to face the door way. "Lulu Bell, would you see if we have any clothes for our little Allen to wear to breakfast?" he asked as he glanced behind him.

"W-Wait! Mr. Earl..." Allen blustered but was interrupted by a chuckle from the Earl.

"There's no need for formalities little Allen." He said as he turned around to face the boy. "Just call me 'Earl'. Now why don't you go get washed up and then you can meet the family so far." With that the Earl wobbled out of the room and went off to do no good.

Allen kept his gaze on the doorway when he noticed that there had been two other people in the room the entire time and blushed slightly in embarrassment eliciting a suppressed giggle from Road causing his face to grow even redder. After getting over his embarrassment he looked at Lulu Bell who was sitting at the foot of his bed with her hands in her lap, Allen noticed she had elegance about her, her clothes were that of a high class noble, though instead of a dress she wore a black suit with matching slacks a white under shirt and a blue tie, her black hair was put in a ponytail. She was currently going through several dressers and the sort to try and find a suit that would fit Allen but to no avail but she kept looking anyway. His gaze drifted towards Road who was now holding a pink umbrella that had a jack-o-lantern head at its top. She appeared to be a bit older than he was but for some reason he felt that she was older than she looked despite her current childish antics as she toyed with the poor umbrella, but didn't question it. She was wearing what appeared to be some sort of school uniform. He had also noticed that they shared the same ashen color skin as the Earl and had a line of crosses lining their foreheads. His mind began to drift as he continued to watch the two until he heard a sudden screech that seemed to come from the jack-o-lantern topped umbrella.

"Put me down! Lero!" the umbrella hollered as Road began to spin it around faster her wrist.

"Did that umbrella just...talk?" Allen asked slowly keeping his eyes on the now flying umbrella which had managed to get away from Road and promptly flew towards the boy and hovered at eye level before flying around him as if it were examining him. Allen slowly reached out his hand and when he was about to grab the umbrella it flew back a bit avoiding his grasp, watching him cautiously.

"My name is Lero. Lero."

"Lero Lero?" Allen asked slightly confused with a tilt of his head, bewilderment in his eyes.

"No just Lero. Lero."

Allen shook his head with a dumbfounded look before looking back at the umbrella. "That's what I just said."

"You said Lero Lero. My name's just Lero. Lero."

Allen was starting to get annoyed by this floating pink umbrella that couldn't seem to say his own name.

"You just said your name wasn't Lero Lero, and then you say it is! Make up your mind you stupid umbrella!" Allen yelled with irritation and annoyance as he was now trying to grab at it so he could smash it into the floor.

Road who was currently on the floor clutching her sides with her feet kicking in the air laughing managed to calm down her laughter down to a suppressed giggle managed to grab Lero while he was busy glaring at Allen, who couldn't seem to get his name right.

"His name's Lero." She said with a smile. "He just has a bad habit of saying his name at the end of everything he says." She manages to clarify as she started to once again swish Lero around playfully. "I'm Road by the way. That over there is Lulu Bell. You'll meet the others at breakfast." She added as she pointed to herself then to Lulu Bell who was currently making a second pass through the clothes to find something suitable for Allen to wear.

Allen avoided eye contact with the two and simply nodded before he jumped out of the bed as he remember he needed to get cleaned up for breakfast and was about to head to the bathroom when he stopped as he didn't know where the bathroom was. "Where's the bathroom?" he asked with a hint of embarrassment in his voice and his face slightly red.

"It's down the hall, 6th door on the left." Lulu Bell answered as she pulled out a suit that she had missed only to put it back due to it being far too big. Allen quickly said thank you before quickly making his way down the hall following Lulu Bell's directions. The boy had found his way to the bathroom easily enough and had found that the bath had already been prepared by who he didn't know but he didn't question it and proceeded to strip down and get cleaned up.

A few minutes passed and Allen was currently sitting at the edge of the tub and carefully washing his face and hair making sure to avoid his fresh bandages that covered most of the lower left side of his face and his forehead leaving his left eye exposed. As he rinsed his hair and face, he let out a pained groan as his left arm began to ache again and proceeded to bite it in retaliation, causing him to wince in pain even more but the internal throbbing seemed to cease as a result. When the pain faded away Allen grabbed the towel that had been sitting on the sink counter and noticed that a small formal suit was now sitting next to the towel which wasn't there before, causing him to glance around. He hadn't seen anyone enter the bathroom and definitely didn't hear anyone enter. Then again he had been fairly occupied splashing around in the warm bath water since he rarely was able to enjoy a soak in warm water seeing as nearly every cheap motel he and Mana went to never had any, that and he had also been busy trying not to cry as he remembered all the times Mana would help him wash his hair and back. Allen decided not think about that as he proceeded to get dressed and was slightly shocked that the suit was a near perfect fit and decided to go look in a mirror to see how he looked and as he got onto the counter he let out a rather shocked scream and nearly fell off the counter as a result.

His hair was white! And his left eye was completely black save for a red inverted pentacle in his pupil and two circular red rings that outlined it. Curiosity got the better of him as he took off his bandages and which revealed a matching pentacle was also above his left eye with that had a series of red lines trailing down from it that lined his cheek and jaw bone, but what shocked him most was what he saw on or rather in his chest. It was like what he saw on the Earl, there was a faceless humanoid figure that resembled a bare mannequin. Though unlike the Earl's which had been a smoky gray color and stood tall and confidant, his took on whiter shade but had a hint of grey and was curled up in a fetal position, shivering slightly. He had no idea what he was looking at and looked down at his chest and couldn't see what he saw in the mirror and put his hand to his chest curiously as if to feel around for it but felt nothing.

Allen decided that it would be best to ignore what he saw in the mirror and head back to the room before heading to the dining room since he didn't know where it was. As he climbed off of the counter he heard a knock on the door followed by a male voice he didn't recognize.

"Hey, boy! You alright in there?" it called out. Allen opened the door up to see a tall man with slicked back charcoal colored hair who was dressed in a formal suit similar to his own only the man had white gloves and Allen didn't and the man also had a near perfect completion save for a single mole under his left eye. As Allen studied the man he noticed he didn't have the figure in his chest like he had seen in the Earl and himself. Then again he had never seen the figure in his chest until a few moments ago as he stared at himself in the mirror.

The man raised an eyebrow at the boy who seemed like he was trying to burn a hole through his chest by staring at it and coughed to catch the boy's attention. Allen managed to nod, being a bit too shy to speak to the man. "If you don't hurry you'll be late for breakfast." He said before turning around and proceeding to walk down the hall but stopped when he heard the boy asking him to slow down.

"What is it, boy?" Tyki asked with a hint of annoyance.

"I don't know where the breakfast room is." Allen said with a pout as his stomach growled.

The man sighed, "Alright then. Follow me little one." He said as he motioned for the boy to follow him.

It didn't take long for them to arrive to the dining room and when they entered the room through the big double doors only Road, Lulu Bell and the Earl were sitting at the table though it was clear that they hadn't been waiting long.

"Tyki! I need some help with my homework." Road whined childishly as she lifted her head out of a small stack of books.

Tyki moved from Allen's side and made his way to his seat next to his niece. Road shoved a few of the papers and text books in front of him with a smile.

"Are you feeling better, Allen?" the Earl asked happily.

Allen nodded as he scanned the room. It was dimly lit with what appeared to be jack-o-lanterns, similar to the one's that lined the hall ways. There was a large round table in the center with fifteen chairs, ssix of which were currently occupied. He noticed that there were two people he hadn't met yet. One of which was sitting across from the one who called herself Road, he had long black hair that was in a ponytail and looked a great deal like the man he now knew as Tyki and sported a monocle over his left eye. The other was a rather large and muscular man who was currently nibbling on a sucker, his hair was spiked back and like nearly everyone else present it was black and had a line of crosses lining his head, though unlike the rest of the family his eyes were pure white with no pupil whereas everyone else had amber colored eyes.

He didn't know why but he felt uneasiness around these people, then again he felt uneasy around new people in general and for good reason too. Most people had called him devil child because of his arm and rare occasions had been chanced out of towns with the threat of death, until he met a circus entertainer who had found his arm 'exotic' and put him in the freak show section where he became a star attraction for a time, though that didn't last very long. Even then he was kept in a cage and treated like he was an animal and because of his red arm he earned the name 'Red'. When he wasn't sitting in the cage 'entertaining' the visitors, he was cleaning the animal pens and running errands for the more popular entertainers namely the clown named Cosimo. Though he was often beaten by the clown for not being fast enough or doing it the task a certain way and really any excuse the dreadful clown could think of to beat the boy. It wasn't until Christmas day when he met what he thought was a stray dog that had been nice to him and even licked his deformed hand. The dog seemed so nice compared to the people he had met, though it didn't last long since the wretched clown Cosimo had beaten it to death.

"Is something wrong?" the Earl asked who was now kneeling down to look Allen in the eyes.

Allen blinked a few times to clear his mind before he fell on his backside due to the surprise of seeing the Earl so close to his face and chuckled nervously.

"I'm just nervous." He replied as he looked away.

"Oh that's not good. We're family after all." The Earl said as he lifted Allen up and brushed him off before leading him to the table.

"Now that everyone is present, I have a little announcement to make!" the Earl said excitedly as he stood at the head of the table, his back to the Noah. "We have a new member of the family." He turned to face the Noah, his glance drifting to Allen. "Allen Walker here is going to be living with our dear Sheryl." His eyes glinted with amusement as the addressed Noah stiffened. "Allen is to learn about our war so that he may better protect himself and be prepared. He is also to learn how our cozy little family came about."

"But Lord Millennium..." Sheryl stopped when he saw the saddened eyes of the white haired boy sitting next to the Earl, eye's that pleaded for somewhere to belong. "Very well, I will see to it that Allen is well taken care of my lord."


End file.
